Union CEO Sakiewicz preaches patience on Edu deal

PHILADELPHIA — It didn’t take long for the question to be put to MLS Commissioner Don Garber Thursday.

“Discussions are ongoing as recently as late last night and early this morning,” the commish said in an address to media about the pursuit by the league and the Philadelphia Union of American midfielder Maurice Edu. “So there’s nothing I can report on that.”

There was a change in the narrative, though, from the Union side, with CEO Nick Sakiewicz strongly refuting reports Wednesday that the deal was being held up by MLS headquarters.

“I know everyone is excited and anxious and anticipatory and blowing up Twitter over that but we just got to take a step back,” Sakiewicz said at the SuperDraft. “It’s a very difficult negotiation. In any negotiation, there’s stalls, there’s stops, there’s moving ahead, so it’s very fluid.

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“We’re very much working with the league in concert as opposed to the rumor that wasn’t true. And these things kind of turn. They can turn on a dime — positively or backwards. We’re living it every minute and every hour counts. And we have till the 31st of January to get it done. That’s the transfer window.

“We just want to make sure we do it right. Right for Mo. Right for the league. Right financially for the Union. We want him. And he wants to be here. But the negotiating process is very fluid and unpredictable.”

With MLS’s structure as a single-entity, Edu’s return from a stint in Europe would involve the player officially being transferred from English Premier League club Stoke City to sign a deal with MLS. Edu would then be allocated to the Union, who swapped with D.C. United Tuesday for the first spot in the allocation order.

While both Sakiewicz and Garber distanced themselves from reports that the league had balked at the proposed salary figure, Garber allowed that the widely reported number of a $1.2 million salary was on the low end.

Sakiewicz was adamant that the Union doesn’t see the league as taking an adversarial position to theirs and characterized the negotiations as similarly complex as hundreds he’s done in his time in the league.

“I can’t give you any specifics other than that I think all three parties are working really hard to make this work,” Union manager John Hackworth said. “We’re not there, but I’m an optimist and I’m believing that if this is going to work out for us, it would be a great acquisition for a club a player that I think can be a real difference maker for us.”